Make your life easier with these near-instant re-dos for your space, your stuff, your kitchen, and your routine.

Create Pretty Order

Create Pretty Order

Keep keys handy. Unfurl a tangle of necklaces. Display a collection of vibrant scarves. Or make this pretty rack to corral the things that often collect by the front door—like backpacks, hats, even the dog's leash. "You can make this in minutes," says Ana White, author of The Handbuilt Homeand the self-named blog Ana White. Start with any length 1x6 board. Paint or stain it if you like. Find the center of the board, both lengthwise and widthwise. Mark the placement of each knob, spacing them every four inches and working outward from the center. Drill a hole slightly smaller than the knob’s post, and screw each knob in place.

Fix a Tabletop

Fix a Tabletop

Most people put an old table that shows years of abuse—lots of scratches and large chips—in the giveaway pile. But DIYerKariAnne Wood of Thistlewood Farms gave the top of her beat-up side table a beautiful stained herringbone facelift.

To do it yourself, cut paint sticks into five-inch lengths. (KariAnne used 34 5-inch long paint sticks for a tabletop 17 inches deep by 26 inches wide.) Measure 2.5 inches from the edge of the table on all four sides and place a piece of painters tape. The tape will be your guide. Arrange two sticks on a right angle (a square ruler helps with this), and apply them on an angle with one corner of the paint stick lined up on the tape line. Using those two paint sticks as a guide, continue laying pieces of wood in a herringbone pattern, cutting edges to fit and gluing everything in place with wood glue. To finish, sand, apply two coats of stain (Minwax Provincial, $8.49; amazon.com), and brush on water-based polyurethane to seal.